Chapter 3

Noah walked up to the large light blue house on the corner. He could hear the base of the music before he got to the door. Classmates could be seen inside the house dancing while holding plastic red cups filled with alcohol. He wondered when Melody was going to get there.

Jake opened the door and pulled his friend into the house, immediately handing him a cup filled with beer. "Where's your date?" he asked enthusiastically, obviously a little tipsy already.

Noah set the cup on a stand in the entryway, a little annoyed that Jake would try to give him beer when Jake knew that he didn't drink. Six years earlier, his older brother had been driving drunk and hit a pedestrian. From that moment on Noah had been against alcohol and would never allow it into his system. "She's meeting me here," Noah responded as his friend led him into the party.

Emma Johnson snuck up behind Noah and playfully put her hands over his eyes. "Guess who," she teased.

"Get off of me Emma," Noah grumbled as he pulled away from the girl. He could see the pain in her eyes as he turned to look at her, but refused to feel sorry for her. Noah had dated the girl for nearly two years. He had loved her with passion that only teenagers could have. Then he found out that Emma had a one night stand with another guy and broke up with her, refusing to listen to her excuses. In his mind the reason why she did it didn't matter, she still did it. However, Emma refused to give up on him. She was constantly trying to win him back.

"Oh, don't feel bad Emma. Noah's just worried that you'll make his date jealous," Jake teased with a smirk.

"What date?" Emma asked, her pain turning to anger.

"Melody Reynolds," Jake exclaimed with a burst of laughter. Noah shot Jake a glance, warning him not to make anymore remarks about his date.

Emma ran to the bathroom and slammed the door, visibly upset by what she had heard. Noah felt a twinge of guilt, but shook it off. She had cheated on him, and that was something that he could not forgive her for.

"So when is Melody getting here?" Jake asked, taking another drink of his beer.

"Soon," Noah promised, with a hopeful glance towards the door.

Noah looked at his watch for the millionth time that evening. Three hours had passed, but Melody still hadn't shown up to the party. "Maybe she got lost," Noah assured himself as he looked out the window.

"Face it man," Jake said as he stumbled over to his friend, clearly drunk. "The freak stood you up."

"Shut up," Noah warned with a stern look. He tried to ignore Jake's comment but he knew that Jake was right. Melody had stood him up.

"Want that drink now?" Jake asked, his words slurred but his tone comforting.

Noah let out a long sigh before nodding his head. If it worked to ease the pain for other people, it would work to ease his pain too. Besides, one drink wouldn't hurt anybody.

Derek pulled into a rest stop early Sunday morning. They were only an hour away from home, but he couldn't ignore his hunger any further. Besides, the drugs would be wearing off of Melody soon. He wanted to play with his new toy but knew that he had to wait until he got her home. It would be too risky to rape her in the public parking lot. Any number of things could go wrong and he couldn't risk getting got.

No. Derek wasn't a risk taker. He enjoyed simplicity and routines. Hell, that was one of the reasons his wife divorced him; he was boring. Derek slammed the cupboard in the small kitchen, the anger rising inside of him as he thought of his ex-wife.

Derek heard a muffled scream coming from the small bedroom in the back of the RV. He smiled to himself. Melody was awake. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to escape her bindings, he decided to let her struggle for a bit while he ate his breakfast. He wanted her to tire herself out so that she would be easier to handle once he got her home.

Suddenly, Derek's cell phone started to ring. Looking at the caller ID he knew that it was his friend Andy.

After the divorce, Derek was upset. So upset that he developed a drug problem which nearly killed him. His friend Andy had saved him and gave him a new outlet for his anger.

Derek answered the phone, knowing that Andy was always a nervous wreck until the new girl was safely in their house.

"How far away are you?" Andy asked impatiently.

"We are about an hour drive away, but I pulled into a rest stop to eat some breakfast. We should be home in an hour and a half or less," Derek replied as he poured himself a large bowl of cereal.

Andy sighed and the line disconnected.

Noah woke up the next morning, dazed and confused. The memories of the night before were blurry and hard to understand. All he knew was that he had a horrible headache and was naked in Jake's bed. 'What the hell happened last night?' he thought to himself.

"Good morning," a soft female voice whispered from beside him.

He quickly turned his head to the side and saw Emma lying beside him. "Shit," he muttered. The memories flooded into his mind. Drinking, dancing, kissing, more drinking, clothes being thrown to the floor, laughs as they stumbled about the dark room. "Did we... ?"

"Ya," Emma said as she got out of bed and started to get dressed. Noah saw the pain in her eyes and knew that he had hurt her.

"Emma, I'm sorry. I had a lot to drink last night and I don't really remember what happened," Noah apologized as he sat up in bed, wrapping the blankets further around his waist.

"It's fine," Emma answered as she sat down on the edge of the bed to put her socks on. "Do you want to go grab breakfast or something? We have a lot to talk about."

Noah sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "I'm not ready to talk yet Em," Noah said quietly. "I need more time."

"But last night..." Emma started to say.

Cutting her off Noah said, "Last night was a mistake that won't happen again. I'm sorry."